Software Blog » Drivers

Will the Spark Tablet Ignite a FOSS Fire?

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Now that webOS is making its merry way along the open road, there’s no telling what tablets or other mobile devices it may inspire over the upcoming months. In the meantime, the Linux world is all abuzz over what promises to be the very first fully open tablet out there: the Spark, a device slated to ship in May from none other than the KDE Plasma Active community itself. The details have been coming fast and furious; preorder signup begins this week. Will FOSS fans jump at the chance?

AMD: Shift Happens

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Last week was the coming-out party for AMD’s new CEO, and his core message was that the market was undergoing a shift — and when markets shift, leadership changes. His point was that Intel’s leadership was at risk and that AMD was poised to take over that leadership. The nature of this change is massive, and I doubt we — I mean any of us — are fully aware of how much is changing. Nor are we sure which companies or technologies will exit this change. Everyone is at risk — from Apple to Microsoft, from Google to Facebook, from Oracle to HP, and from AMD to Intel.

Apple Does the Money Dance

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

pple’s first fiscal quarter is usually a big one. The way its financial calendar works out, what it considers Q1 ends on Dec. 31, meaning it covers the entire holiday period, as well as maybe a little back-to-school action. But the numbers Apple posted about its most recent Q1 were in an entirely different class than the usual money bender it wakes up from this time of year. One of the biggest drivers for Apple’s money train was the iPhone. It sold 37 million units over the last three months of 2011 — easily a record.

Updating the ROM in Your Mobile Device

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Remember this: The phone or tablet you purchased is yours. It does not belong to the carrier that you bought it from despite the fact that the device is emblazoned with its corporate identity, logo or splash screen. This outright ownership you have in the device means that you can do whatever you like with it once you’ve walked out of the store, assuming you don’t mess with the radio hardware and cause interference to your fellow users.

Facebook Riding Shotgun in New Mercedes Models

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:23:02 +0000

Facebook will be among the Internet services that can be accessed in new car models from Mercedes Benz. Facebook access is just one of the new features in the second generation telematics system, called “Mbrace2,” which will begin appearing in new Mercedes models this spring. Introduced at CES 2012 in Las Vegas Tuesday, Mbrace2 will connect to the Internet through any 3G network and runs apps tailored for it by the car maker. In addition to a Mercedes flavor of Facebook, Mbrace2 offers access to Google and Yelp, as well as the viewing of information like stock prices and news.

Symantec Source Code Scattered to the Winds

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Source code for two security applications from Symantec has been stolen and posted on the Web. The hackers claiming responsibility, who call themselves the “Lords of Dharmaraja,” say they obtained code for the Norton Antivirus application. However, it appears they actually got their hands on code for two enterprise products, Symantec End Point 11 and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.2 instead, Symantec spokesperson Cris Paden said. The code is “four and five years old,” and SEP 11 has since evolved into SEP 12.0 and 12.1, while SAV 10.2 has been discontinued.

All Eyes on Ubuntu as CES Draws Near

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious,” a very wise man once said, and that’s surely as true in the tech world as it is in the rest of life. Maybe that’s why so many have been so intrigued by Canonical’s cryptic announcement last week about its plans for this week’s CES event. “Canonical will have a presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,” wrote Canonical blogger John Bernard. “On display will be the latest in Desktop, Cloud and demonstrations on Ubuntu One, plus an exclusive Ubuntu concept design which will be announced during the show.”

Verizon and Google Enter Holiday Party Late and Sulky

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The Galaxy Nexus has finally arrived in the United States after showing up in places like Europe and Hong Kong several weeks ago. This is a Samsung smartphone running the very latest and greatest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. And there are no factory-installed tweaks to the OS either — it’s straight Android, no mixer. Obviously this is good news for those who’ve been excited to see the latest Google superphone firsthand, but the timing for this launch is very unusual. It arrived on shelves Thursday — right at the top of holiday shopping crazy season.

NTSB: Hands-on, Hands-free, Whatever – Just Hang Up and Drive

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:14:45 +0000

The agency charged with making U.S. highways safe for drivers has called for a national ban on the use of personal electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle, including many hands-free devices. The five-member National Transportation Safety Board made its call for the ban on Tuesday as it released a summary of its report on a multi-vehicle pile-up in Gray Summit, Mo., that killed two people and injured 38 others. The safety recommendation specifically calls for a nationwide ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices for all drivers.

NTSB: Hands-on, Hands-free, Whatever – Just Hang Up and Drive

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:14:45 +0000

An InfoSec Holiday Survival Guide

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

It’s December again, and it’s a challenging time for information security organizations. It’s challenging because while attacks become more prevalent during the holiday season in the form of spam and targeted malware, organizational security “readiness” paradoxically wanes at exactly the same time. This happens for a few reasons — both because it’s one of the lowest points of the year for staff attendance, the other low point being mid-summer, and also because most of the annual budget is already spent or otherwise earmarked.

Texting While Driving a Growing Scourge

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:48:52 +0000

There is good news and bad news for driver safety in the U.S.: The good news is that highway deaths fell to 32,885 in 2010, the lowest level since 1949, according to the NHTSA. The bad news, however, is delivered in the same report. The NHTSA unveiled a new measure of fatalities related to distracted driving, which it calls “distraction-affected crashes.” There were an estimated 3,092 fatalities in this category last year — despite the plethora of local laws passed to ban such behavior, and despite the numerous public safety and education campaigns to discourage it.

Open Source and the Open Road, Part 2

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The connected car is on the verge of going where no vehicle has ever gone before. Presently, many cars enable drivers to pair their mobile music and phone devices with their vehicles’ sound systems. But cars with telemetry that will connect to cloud-based navigation and entertainment services could soon be common. Developers on the cutting edge see car makers keeping a lock on third-party apps pushed from cloud sources. But competition among automotive OEMs may push the envelope in regard to what types of apps the connected car might access.

Why Do People Keep Using Windows?

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone for another year here in the U.S., and that means the holiday season is thick upon us once again. We *could* buckle down and get working on all those holiday shopping lists, but it’s not difficult to think of countless ideas that would be a whole lot more fun. Take a good, old-fashioned debate, for example — about operating systems, no less! Thank goodness for the team over at Slashdot, because that’s just the conversation that’s been raging there recently, to the tune of almost 2,000 comments.

All Eyes on HTML5 as Mobile Flash Fades to Black

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

If ever there was an announcement to get tongues wagging in the Linux blogosphere and beyond, it was the news that Adobe will stop developing Flash for mobile devices. That, of course, is just what was announced last week, and the wagging hasn’t stopped ever since. Dubbed “Story of the Week” on the Financial Times Tech Hub blog, the topic has been the focus of conversation on forums far and wide, not to mention the dominant topic of discussion in the Linux blogosphere’s own Mealy Apple cafe.

HTC Sparks OS Envy With Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrades

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Users of eight HTC smartphones will be among the first to receive an upgrade to Google’s new Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The company described the set of devices named as “the first wave” of HTC phones that will receive upgrades, adding that “we’re continuing to assess our product portfolio, so stay tuned for more updates on device upgrades, timing and other details about HTC and Ice Cream Sandwich.” The announcement may have been sweet news for users of the eight phones in question, but plenty of others were left with a bitter taste in their mouths.

All About Jobs and Hiring in Linux Land

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Well it’s been a busy month of October here in the Linux blogosphere. There’s been the ongoing Windows 8 secure boot saga — which just last week gained the voice of the Free Software Foundation. There’s also been the long-awaited arrival of Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot,” with all the associated angst about Unity and Linux desktops — a matter that hasn’t been helped any by word that Linux Mint is now developing a GNOME 3 edition of its own. Then, too, there’s been OpenOffice.org’s plea for fundraising support — followed immediately by assurance from the Apache Software Foundation that everything’s A-OK.

Ubuntu Upgrade a Mixed Bag at Best

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Canonical will release its upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10 on Oct. 13. If you suffered through version 11.04 in hopes that something better would arrive in 11.10, you suffered in vain. For the typical user, very little of anything new is bundled into this latest Ubuntu upgrade. To be honest, my early hands-on experience with Ubuntu 11.10 did not disappoint me — not really, anyway. I was not expecting much in the upgrade. Not much new is precisely what I found. But let’s put my reaction in context. I am a die-hard Ubuntu user.

Snoozing Technique Could Help Keep Smartphone Batteries Fresh

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:15:58 +0000

Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a way to extend the battery life of tablets, smartphones and other devices that use WiFi. Kang Shin, a professor of computer science and engineering, and Xinyu Zhang, a doctoral student, have developed E-MiLi, a power management method that could cut energy consumption by about 44 percent for up to 92 percent of users in WiFi zones. E-MiLi, or Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening, involves slowing down the rate at which the WiFi receiver retrieves packets, along with filtering out unnecessary packets.

That Tired Old Computer Could Be a Neat Media Streamer

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0000

One antidote to escalating household budgets is to cut utility services. However, dropping trash pickup and dumping your garbage in neighbors’ receptacles in the middle of the night probably wouldn’t go down too well in the community. Likewise, terminating your electricity supply won’t play too well with the family after the novelty wears off — possibly less than an hour if there’s something good on TV, or it’s cold. One cost that can be cut, though, is your media bill — and it’s possible to do it, with little sacrifice, by moving to an a la carte, Internet-delivered model.